- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
- Messages
- 3
- Points
- 1
- City
- Pittsburgh
- State - Country
- PA - USA
- Vehicle Year
- 1995
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Drive
- 4WD
- Engine
- 3.0 V6
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Total Lift
- 2"
Hello all, I feel like I'm going crazy. I bought this '95 a week and a half ago because it was basically free of rust, which is unheard of in W. PA.
That's about all it has going for it though, it's been manhandled for sure. Among the many issues it has was a disconnected parking brake system with rotted cables. The 4R44E won't go into park (whole other story) so I wanted to get the e-brake functional while I get this thing back up and running.
My local NAPA had the rear left and right in stock and I confirmed they were for a 10" brake truck, like mine. I got everything apart and started mounting up the new cables until I went to join them to the front cable. I confirmed the parking brake pedal was all the way up and released and yet I could not get anywhere near close to hooking the front cable to the rear cables. The only way I was able to get them joined was by blowing apart all the drum brake hardware. But now I can't seat the front cable in its bracket and the rear springs on both cable are almost fully compressed. Pictures below for reference:
Any ideas? Anyone had this problem before? It's almost like there's too much spring on each cable. I put them side by side with the old ones that came off and everything basically looked the same.
That's about all it has going for it though, it's been manhandled for sure. Among the many issues it has was a disconnected parking brake system with rotted cables. The 4R44E won't go into park (whole other story) so I wanted to get the e-brake functional while I get this thing back up and running.
My local NAPA had the rear left and right in stock and I confirmed they were for a 10" brake truck, like mine. I got everything apart and started mounting up the new cables until I went to join them to the front cable. I confirmed the parking brake pedal was all the way up and released and yet I could not get anywhere near close to hooking the front cable to the rear cables. The only way I was able to get them joined was by blowing apart all the drum brake hardware. But now I can't seat the front cable in its bracket and the rear springs on both cable are almost fully compressed. Pictures below for reference:
Any ideas? Anyone had this problem before? It's almost like there's too much spring on each cable. I put them side by side with the old ones that came off and everything basically looked the same.
